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Oleksii Balabas papers

This collection contains material relating to the life of Oleksii Balabas and his family in the Kuban' region of Russia, Prague, Germany, and Chicago. It includes six volumes of diaries from the 1940s and '50s, official and legal documents, correspondence, writings on Kuban' history, and photographs.

Summary Information

Creator

Balabas, Oleksii, 1890-1960

Title

Oleksii Balabas papers

ID

g.3

Dates

1915-1960

Quantity

1.0 Linear feet, 3 bound volumes, 2 boxes

Languages

Ukrainian, Russian, Czech, German and English.

Repository

Ukrainian Historical and Educational Center Archives

Biographical/Historical note

Oleksii Balabas was an "ordinary man" whose life encapsulates in microcosm a great deal of the history of Ukrainians in the first half of the 20th century.

He was born in 1890 in the "stantsia" Slovians'ka in Kuban' (Russian northern Caucuses). He was conscripted into the Russian Army upon the outbreak of World War I, attended cavalry school and joined as an ensign with the Slovians'ka regiment, with which he fought on the Western and Turkish fronts. After the 1917 Revolution he joined the government of the Kuban' People's Republic, associating closely with many of the top government leaders. After the takeover of the government by the monarchist "Black Hundreds" counter-revolutionaries he was arrested and exiled in 1919 to Istanbul. In 1920, he moved with his family to Prauge.

In Prague, he worked as a compositor in the print shop of the social-democratic newspaper "Právo Lidu" while furthering his education. He eventually defended a doctoral dissertation from the Charles University in Prague, and became a teacher and administrator of the Ukrainian Gymansium in Modřany.

Fleeing ahead of the Red Army in World War II, he spent time in the Karlsfeld, Füssen, and Mittenwald DP camps. He served as teacher and director of the Mittenwald camp Gymnasium. His wife Ievheniia (Pobidonostseva) died in 1947, and in 1950 he emigrated to Chicago. He worked for the Czech-language newspaper "Svernost" and taught at the Ukrainian Orthodox school. He later joined the printing establishment of Prof. Terlets'kyi where he worked as a linotype operator. He moved to New Jersey after prostate surgury, where he likely worked in the printing shop at the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA in South Bound Brook.

Scope and Contents

The Oleksii Balabas Papers contain material relating to the life of Kuban' native of Ukrainian descent Oleksii Balabas and his family in Russia, Prague, as a Displaced Person in Germany, and in Chicago. Of particular importance are six volumes of diaries in which he describes his life in Germany and Chicago and his attempts to deal with his grief over the death of his wife. In addition, the collection has official and legal documents from pre-Revolutionary Russia and his immigration into the USA, family and personal correspondence, writings on Kuban' history, and photographs from Kuban', Prague, Germany and the USA. Two letters dated 1933 from family members in Kuban' make reference to the Holodomor.

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use. Please contact the archivist (archives@ukrhec.org) for more information and to make arrangements.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright restrictions may apply.

Controlled Access Headings

Subjects

Kubanʹ (Russia : Region)

Exiles--Ukrainian--Czechoslovakia--Prague

Exiles--Ukrainian--Turkey--Istanbul

Immigrants--United States--Diaries

Refugee camps--Germany--Füssen

Refugee camps--Germany--Mittenwald

Ukrainian-Americans--Illinois--Chicago

Ukrainians -- Russia (Federation) -- Kubanʹ (Region)

World War, 1939-1945--Refugees

Container List

Series 1. Documents, 1916-1960.
8 folders

Kuban' and Istanbul, 1916-1920.
2 folders

Scope and Contents

Russian passports, bank passbooks, deeds of sale of real estate, and a passport issued by the consulate of the Netherlands in Istanbul for transit to Prague.

Box 1 Folder 1-2

Prague, 1923-1945.
4 folders

Scope and Contents

Academic documents of Oleksii and his wife, including diplomas, coursework records and student ID cards. Identification documents from the period of Nazi occupation. Certificate of appreciation from his printer colleagues.

Scope and Contents

Letters from Oleksii to his wife and daughter, written from Kuban', Istanbul, Prague and Germany. Postcards from his daughter enroute from Prague to Germany.

Box 1 Folder 8

Family in Kuban', 1928-1960
(
Bulk, 1928-1935
)
.

Scope and Contents

Correspondence with family members who remained in Kuban', primarily with a Masha (Mama?) and Fenia, and later with Ievhenia Smola (his sister?), and a Zhenia (surname unknown). Two of the letters from 1933 contain allusions to the Holodomor.

Box 1 Folder 9

Vladimir Chernoi, 1921-1934.

Scope and Contents

Correspondence with Vladimir Chernoi, who may be a cousin, as he addresses himself to Oleksii as "tvoi brat" ("your brother"). Correspondence, mostly in the form of postcards, is addressed from Kuban' and Moscow.

Box 1 Folder 10

Kathi Ostler, 1951-1956.

Scope and Contents

Correspondene with the Ostler family in Mittenwald, who may have been caring for Ievheniia's grave.

Box 1 Folder 11

Vasyl' and Petro Kachurovskyi, 1951-1960
(
Bulk, 1959-1960
)
.

Scope and Contents

Correspondence from Balabas' son-in-law and school-age grandson after Balabas moved to New Jersey.

Box 2 Folder 1

R. Lukianova, 1949-1960.
2 folders

Scope and Contents

Correspondence with R. Lukianova (first name unknown) in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Letters, 1959-1960.

Box 2 Folder 2

Photographs, 1949-1959.

Scope and Contents

Portraits, group photographs, and other scenes sent to Balabas by R. Lukianova, most with extensive inscriptions on the reverse.

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents

Entries made in Mittenwald and Bremen. Also contains an entry dated March 10, 1949.

Volume 2

Volume 3, 1953.

Scope and Contents

Entries made in Chicago, IL.

Volume 3

Volume 4, March 1954 - May 1955.

Scope and Contents

Entries made in Chicago, IL.

Box 2 Folder 12

Volume 5, 1955.

Scope and Contents

Entries made in Chicago, IL.

Box 2 Folder 13

Volume 6, August 1957 - August 1959.

Scope and Contents

Entries made in Chicago, IL and South Bound Brook, NJ.

Box 2 Folder 14

Loose diary pages, 1920, 1950-1956.

Scope and Contents

Loose pages containing diary entries from 1920 (Istanbul and in transit to Prague), July 1950 - March 1951 (Chicago), December 7, 1951 (Chicago), January 14, 1955 (Chicago), January 8, 1956 (Chicago), as well as undated holograph writings.

Processing Information

The undated holograph writings were found folded between the pages of the bound diaries.

Box 2 Folder 15

Finding aid prepared by Michael Andrec.

This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit
on 2013-12-23 at 13:59-0500.